It is well known that shoes and feet come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Consequently, in order to provide a particular consumer with a pair of shoes, a shoe retailer must determine that particular consumer's shoe size. If the consumer is unaware of his or her shoe size, the shoe retailer typically measures the consumer's feet to determine the appropriate shoe size. One of the most commonly used devices for measuring feet for fitting shoes is the Branach device. This manual device includes two levers slidably mounted upon a labeled platform for determining the length and width of a particular foot. Since shoes have traditionally been available in men, women, and children sizes, three different types of Branach devices, corresponding to each of these sizing schemes, have been utilized by shoe retailers. The manual nature of the Branach device, as well as the need for using three different devices for men, women, and children, suggest the need for a system which automatically measures all types of feet for fitting shoes.
Various types of automatic feet measuring devices have been developed in the past. Many of these devices utilize complex mechanical moving components which are subject to ordinary shortcomings of moving mechanical parts. Other devices include one or more light sources located to shine light onto the top or bottom of a foot to cast planar outlines of the foot onto light sensitive sensors which are monitored to produce foot length and width measurements. Although length and width measurements are useful and relatively easily obtained from such systems, additional desirable measurements which are difficult or impossible to obtain from such prior systems include, among others, foot height, foot volume, foot shape, and force distribution throughout the foot.
There is a need, therefore, in the industry for a method and an apparatus for measuring feet for fitting shoes which address these and other related and unrelated, problems.